Victory monument blast victim dies

BANGKOK, Feb 11 - The bomb blast last month at Bangkok's Victory Monument claimed its first life on Tuesday afternoon, according to Bangkok's Emergency Centre.

The latest victim was identified as Anon Thaidee, 65. He passed away at 3.40pm at Rajavithi Hospital. The cause of his death is being examined, announced the Erawan Emergency Centre of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), citing the Public Health Ministry's medical centre report.

Mr Anon's son, Pong-anan, said his father was wounded in the bomb blast while selling books near the protest site. He had been hospitalised for 22 days and gradually recovered. His doctor was about to allow him to return home two days ago but he fainted in a bathroom. The doctor found that he suffered from kidney failure and a pulmonary embolism before being pronounced dead today, according to a news report on the Manager website.

The Victory Monument was one of the rally sites of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) which announced the 'Shutdown Bangkok' campaign last month to pressure caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign.

A closed-circuit television camera captured an image of the suspected assailant who hurled a bomb near the protest site. Police have not yet located him.

Eleven persons have died and 611 have been injured since the months-long anti-government protests began on Nov 30

Police believed that assailants who used hand grenades in the incidents at Bantad Thong intersection and the Victory Monument belong to the same group.

Deputy National Police Chief Aek Angsnanond said the hand grenades used at the two rally sites were the same model -- RGD-5 Code 48 -- leading police to believe that the incidents were the work of the same group. The grenades are available along the northern, northeastern and eastern borders.

Police said RGD5 explosives were used during the unrest in Bangkok in 2006, 2010 and 2012.